


Fish Out of Water

by jaxink



Category: Free!
Genre: Attempt at crack that became serious, Gen, Haru is uncooperative
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-26
Updated: 2013-08-26
Packaged: 2017-12-24 18:09:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/943051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaxink/pseuds/jaxink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Makoto wasn’t wrong. He was like a dolphin. But Haru would rather be like a fish.</p><p>or</p><p>Haruka is jealous of mackerel.</p><p> </p><p>-Written for Iwatobi Swim Club Kink meme-</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fish Out of Water

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This prompt made me laugh so hard when I read it. I tried to write crack, but Haru got moody instead.
> 
> Original prompt from Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club Kink meme:
> 
> The real reason Haru eats so much fish isn't because he likes the taste, but because he's jealous and resentful of fish getting to live in the water all the time.

  
After practice, the swim club tagged along with Haruka to the Nanase household. They removed their shoes and dropped off their bags in the genkan before settling around the low table in the adjacent room. Half-hearted attempts were made to begin homework before laughter and idle chatter filled the room.  
  
“It wasn’t that bad!” Rei protested at Nagisa’s enthusiastic description of his colossal slip and fall from the deck into the pool. “I merely misplaced my footing—"  
  
Nagisa playfully elbowed him. “Rei-chan was like a fish out of water!”  
  
Rei huffed and pushed up his glasses, trying to re-focus on his studies.   
  
“Now, now, Nagisa. Leave Rei alone,” Makoto chided with a gentle smile.  
  
Gou stifled a laugh behind her hand. “You should be more careful, Rei. We don’t want anyone to get hurt.”  
  
Looking thoughtful for a moment, Nagisa abruptly changed the topic. “That’s a funny expression, isn’t it?”  
  
“What is?” Gou asked curiously.  
  
“ ‘Fish out of water,’ “ Nagisa said. “What do you think, Mako-chan?”  
  
Makoto shrugged and looked down at the book in his lap. “It makes sense. When a fish is out of water, it flops around because it can’t survive in open air. Fish have gills to breathe underwater.”  
  
Rei nodded in agreement at these facts. He mumbled, “And that’s _not_ what I was like…”  
  
“Haru-chan’s like a fish. But he doesn’t act like a fish out of water when he’s not swimming,” Nagisa pointed out brightly.  
  
Haru glared at him for use of the nickname. Standing, he left the room to enter the kitchen. “I’m cooking mackerel for dinner.”  
  
“Again, Haruka-senpai? Is fish the only thing you ever eat?” Gou bemoaned.  
  
Leaning back on his hands, Nagisa spoke again. “So why isn’t Haru-chan like a fish out of water when he acts so fishy in the water?”  
  
Makoto chuckled. “I think it might be because Haru is more like a dolphin.”  
  
“A dolphin?” Rei repeated.  
  
They could hear the sounds of Haruka pulling the grill and a pan out to make dinner. The fridge open and closed. Oil began to crackle.  
  
“Mmhm,” Makoto said. “A dolphin. They’re graceful, agile swimmers, but unlike fish, they’re mammals. They breathe oxygen. They need to return to the surface breathe.”  
  
Gou tapped her chin thoughtfully. “That does sound like Haruka-senpai.”  
  
“And dolphins prey on fish for sustenance. It’s an apt comparison,” Rei concluded.  
  
In the kitchen, Haru stared disdainfully down at the mackerel filet sizzling on the grill as he listened. The striped scales glittered and juices delicately bubbled. The aroma of cooking fish permeated the air.  
  
Makoto wasn’t wrong. He  _was_  like a dolphin. He could cut and glide through the water with ease. He could find solace in water’s all-encompassing embrace. But he couldn’t stay under the water. Not indefinitely. As much as he wished he could stay beneath the waves, he couldn’t. Haru would always need to return and break the surface.

Gasping and wheezing and gulping in air.   
  
Haru pouted. It wasn’t fair. He glanced off to the side and spotted the discarded mackerel head. The open eye staring at him. Mocking him. He’d swear the dead fish had an arrogant expression.  
  
 _I can be in the water. Forever. And never, ever need to leave._  
  
Haru stared back.   
  
He begrudgingly admired mackerel. They’re swift and maneuverable swimmers, able to streamline themselves by retracting their fins into grooves on their body. And they could live in the water. And never have to get out.  
  
Clicking off the grill, he lifted the fish filet with the spatula off the pan and onto a plate. Picking up the knife on the cutting board, Haruka plunged the blade a little too gleefully into the mackerel head’s open eye.   
  
He grabbed a fork and settled back down to eat his fish. Because until Haru could figure out how to grow gills and live in the ocean, he’d settle for eating the smug little fishy bastards.


End file.
